Rick Santorum is set to speak at an anti-gay marriage rally in D.C. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key).

Former U.S. senator and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum will speak at an upcoming national march in D.C. in opposition to marriage rights for gay couples, an anti-gay group organizing the event announced on Saturday.

In an e-mail blast to supporters, the National Organization of Marriage made the announcement and praised Santorum, a vehement opponent of same-sex marriage and supporter of a U.S. constitutional amendment banning it across the country.

“From his days in the Senate, through his Presidential campaigns, Senator Santorum has never hesitated to stand for marriage and make the argument that the social values of our nation are of primary importance to the well-being of our families and children,” writes NOM President Brian Brown.

Despite his opposition to same-sex marriage, Santorum as a U.S. senator recommended the nomination of now-U.S. District Judge John Jones III to former President George W. Bush. Just last month, that judge was responsible for issuing the decision that brought marriage equality to Pennsylvania.

Other speakers for the event, known as the “March for Marriage” and set for June 19, are individuals known for their opposition to same-sex marriage: Former Republican presidential candidate and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone; New York State Sen. Rev. Ruben Diaz; and the Heritage Foundation’s Jennifer Marshall and Ryan Anderson.

“The lineup of prominent national speakers, including Senator Santorum, who are committed to working with us to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman stands in stark contrast to the transparent attempts of many in the mainstream media to convince Americans that the debate about marriage is all but over,” Brown writes.

The march is set to begin with a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol at 11 am, then at 1 pm, attendees will march down Constitution Avenue to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is expected to deliver a final, nationwide ruling by the middle of next year on whether the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to same-sex marriage.

“As we take to the streets of Washington, DC on June 19th, encouraged by the words of Senator Santorum and others, we will make it clear to the Supreme Court, the Congress, and the media elites that Americans still stand for marriage and the truth that children deserve both a mother and a father,” Brown writes.

Chris Johnson is Chief Political & White House Reporter for the Washington Blade. Johnson attends the daily White House press briefings and is a member of the White House Correspondents' Association.
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Brian Brown is an idiot that simply puts on a show so he can get money from bigots. He is simply giving them a song and dance and telling them what they want to hear if it gets him what he wants. He is spooked that if NOM comes to be seen as impotent and no longer a sound investment, his cash cow will disintegrate and he will have to get a REAL job.

Brian Brown and Rick Santorum apparently haven't figured out that they do not speak for the majority of Americans. Also, it's very interesting that they claim to fighting for children, who deserve to have a mother and a father. I guess republicans don't believe, then, those children also deserve access to affordable health care and higher education. Because they certainly aren't marching on Washington to promote those causes. They're only interested in promoting prejudice and hatred.

Can someone please ask these people, point blank, how banning same-sex marriage guarantees that a child will have a mother and father? They make these ridiculous claims and no one ever asks them to support what they are saying. I want to see the step-by-step guide they have created that starts with banning same-sex marriage and ends with EVERY child having a mother and a father.

What an embarassement to the party. True republicans want less goverment interference in our lives. Rick Santorum is a biggot, a sick toe-tapping republican discrace. How anyone's marriage, straigt or gay, is a guarantee the couple will have chaildren and that they will remin married or even involved in their children's life?

Here is a Spanish-language video of Ruben Diaz, Sr. urging his followers to attend NOM's anti-gay-rights rally on June 19, 2014 in Washington, D.C. Diaz does NOT ONCE mention that the rally is to protest gay rights. He says, in Spanish, that the purpose of the rally is to express support for the church, and for the father, the son and the holy ghost. He urges his followers not to let the buses go empty to D.C. He tells them it is all-expenses-paid for them. "See the monuments in D.C." he tells them. This is very disturbing, that Diaz is recruiting Spanish-speakers to an anti-gay rally without telling them what the rally is about.

Senator Rick Santorum is obviously an idiot! I do not see for my life how GLBTQ marriages would ruin the "union" of marriage. There are thousands of children in foster care etc because Heterosexuals cannot or do not want to care for their children. I have seen it personally. Maybe he, and all the other idiots need to know the facts before they open their damn mouths!

This is typical of republican'ts. Either they lie outright, or they use this kind of trickery to get people to go along with them and hope there's no backlash. What happens when everyone gets tired of being fooled?

Of course they plan their rely to coincide with gay pride month as an additional slap in the face. Hopefully they’ll be gays and lesbians annoying them during their rally as we had during the DC gay pride parade with anti-gay protestors and their hateful messages!

Let them march all they want. They marched in droves and violently against marriage equality in France but in the end, Marriage equality still won out!

If the SCOTUS really has any integrity then they will strike down these constitutional amendments once and for all. But even then these people will just push Congress for another Constitutional Amendment to ban it. It’s an incessant assault on the dignity and rights of gay Americans but unlike a brutal regime like Russia they can’t silence us or stop us! The ball is rolling and they will simply be crushed by its momentum!

June 19th is a Thursday. So either they will have to take a day off from work assuming they have a job and cause a traffic jam headache for commuters going into and out of DC that day. That will be endearing to those that have to be stuck in traffic thanks to them.

Many people paid to be there will be there because they have no real jobs and just sponge off this issue to make a living or have no real life!

Leslie Gray Yeah I mean, if he thinks his followers would agree with the message, why not tell them the truth? And if he doesn't think they will agree, does he expect them to be happy that he sent them down there under false pretense?

These people are relentless, even in the face of the obvious conclusion that marriage equality HARMS NOBODY but benefits so many! How can you have so much hate and bigotry in your heart that you could outright LIE to people like this?!

Robin Groves Because that's what these people rely on… they know they are on shaky ground and that people probably won't agree with them if they knew the truth… so mislead them….make it look like you have more support than you do! Evil and slimy all rolled into one!

"In several emails, National Organization For Marriage president Brian Brown has proudly claimed that New York's most notoriously anti-gay (and cowboy hat–wearing) Democrat, state senator Ruben Diaz Sr., is bringing 100 buses to NOM's pro-discrimination march in D.C. (to be held June 19). Which could be true. Diaz is known to bus in crowds to NOM events.

Only thing? Diaz isn't actually telling people that the buses are for NOM's anti-gay march. Instead, he's selling it as a way for people to get a free trip to the nation's capital so they can "visit the monuments.""

Robin Groves Is thtis guy still spouting his poop out his mouth. A-hole tried to stop in in NY and failed. some people you could hit over the head and not get any attention. He's like the westboro baptsts – so totally imbued with their hatreds they'd sit on a pile of dynamite screaming theiir bull while the fuse burned

He joinss the very same type of people who in 11967 rre scotus trashing inter-racial marriage bans. If thtey hadnt he's have bee nothing but an ache in his fathers crotch.